The evaporator in an absorption type refrigeration appartus operating with inert gas is located in the cooling space of the refrigerator. In this space the heat transfer required for cooling is achieved by operation of the evaporator, which generally is provided with cooling fins. The evaporator assembly is placed in the refrigerator cabinet either by inserting the evaporator assembly through a window cut in the rear wall of the refrigerator cabinet or by mounting directly in the window itself. In either case the window must be sealed tightly by heat insulation after the evaporator assembly has been inserted in the refrigerator cabinet. Furthermore, the gas heat exchanger of the refrigerating apparatus which connects the cold evaporator part to the warmer parts of the apparatus must be heat-insulated both from the cooled space and from the ambient. Therefore, the gas heat exchanger is generally mounted in the window in the rear wall of the refrigerator apparatus.
When foamed plastic resins, such as polyurethane, are used as insulating material for a refrigerator two separate foaming operations are required. One foaming operation forms the heat insulation for the refrigerator walls and after the refrigerating apparatus, as described above, has been mounted a second foaming operation is initiated in order to seal the window and heat insulate the parts therein, for example the gas heat exchanger. The second foaming operation can be performed in situ or outside of the refrigerator using a mold that will produce an insulation configuration that will fit accurately in the window in the rear wall of the refrigerator after the refrigerating apparatus is installed therethrough.
A prior art procedure has simplified this process by utilizing a single foaming operation. This latter procedure, however, has the disadvantage, that after mounting the refrigerating apparatus in the cabinet and sealing the same, the refrigerating apparatus cannot be readily removed from the cabinet. Furthermore, there is the danger that part of the cabinet or apparatus may be damaged upon the removal.
It is an object of the present invention to simplify the manufacture of a refrigerator and to construct a refrigerator in such a manner that the refrigerating apparatus can be removed from the cabinet without damaging the cabinet and the apparatus itself.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a compact refrigerator in which is the refrigerating apparatus is easily mounted and removed from the refrigerator cabinet. The refrigerator apparatus is compact since the evaporator system is a pipe system extending linearly and horizontally while the gas heat exchanger is a straight line continuation thereof. Thus, the entire assembly is generally on a single plane with the evaporator located in the cooling chamber and th gas heat exchanger in an opening in the rear wall insulation of the refrigerator cabinet. Moreover, an evaporator plate of heat conductive material, such as aluminum, is provided with a suitable cylindrical opening which fits over and is secured to the evaporator pipe positioned inside the refrigerator cabinet. The evaporator plate functions as a support for ice trays set above and is provided with cooling fins on the underside of the evaporator plate. Another object of the present invention is to improve the heat conduction between the evaporator pipe and the part of the evaporator plate surrounding said pipe by using a heat-conductive joining material.